It would seem, however, that that tweet did not reflect his true feelings about the Astros’ conduct or, for that matter, about Fiers blowing the whistle. That comes through loud and clear during his appearance on The Athletic’s Atlanta Braves-themed “755 Is Real” podcast, this week, in which he talked about the sign-stealing scandal.

Gattis on the sign-stealing:

“What we did was wrong, don’t get it twisted. It was wrong for the nature of competition, not even just baseball. We obviously cheated baseball . . . I’m not asking for sympathy, or anything like that. If our punishment is being hated by everybody forever, just like, whatever. I don’t know what should be done, but something had to fu**ing be done. I do agree with that, big-time. I do think it’s good for baseball that we’re cleaning it up.

“I still to this day — I’ve thought about it a fu**ing s**t ton — and I still don’t know how to feel. I know I’ll get ripped by somebody like, ‘That’s not an apology,’ and if I did apologize it still wouldn’t be good enough. Yeah, no s**t it’s not gonna be good enough. I understand that it’s not fu**ing good enough to say sorry. I get it.”

He had specific words about Fiers blowing the whistle too:

“With Fiers, he had something to say, dude. It probably started out with him saying exactly what he said — some of these guys coming into the league, they don’t fu**ing know yet that this s**t goes on. And I respect that. And he had something to say. So he had to fu**ing say it. And then we had to get punished. Because if not, then what? It’ll get even more out of control.”

It’s safe to say that Gattis, who recently announced that his playing days are over, has now made the most straightforward statement of any 2017 Astro on the matter to date.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher has reversed course and will continue to pay minor leaguers. Fisher tells Slusser, “I concluded I made a mistake.” He said he is also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees.

The A’s decided in late May to stop paying paying minor leaguers as of June 1, which was the earliest date on which any club could do so after an MLB-wide agreement to pay minor leaguers through May 31 expired. In the event, the A’s were the only team to stop paying the $400/week stipends to players before the end of June. Some teams, notable the Royals and Twins, promised to keep the payments up through August 31, which is when the minor league season would’ve ended. The Washington Nationals decided to lop off $100 of the stipends last week but, after a day’s worth of blowback from the media and fans, reversed course themselves.

An @sfchronicle exclusive: A's owner John Fisher reverses course, apologizes: team will pay minor-leaguers; "I concluded I made a mistake," he tells me. He's also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees: https://t.co/8HUBkFAaBx)